Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) 2024

✦ Plain-English Summary

# Treasury Laws Amendment (Responsible Buy Now Pay Later and Other Measures) Bill 2024

## What it does
This bill tightens the rules around Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services like Afterpay and Zip, bringing them under the same consumer protections as traditional credit. It also makes several tax changes, including a $20,000 instant asset write-off for small businesses and updates to multinational tax reporting.

## Why it matters
BNPL has exploded in popularity but operated in a regulatory grey zone—now there are actual rules requiring companies to check whether you can afford payments and protect you if things go wrong. For small business owners, the asset write-off could mean real cash flow relief.

## Key details
- **BNPL companies must now**: Check you can afford repayments before lending, provide clear contracts upfront, and follow proper default procedures if you miss payments
- **For small businesses**: The $20,000 instant asset write-off lets you deduct eligible equipment purchases immediately rather than over years
- **Timing**: Most BNPL rules kick in on a date to be announced, while other changes (like the small business write-off) start from 1 January, April, July or October

Official Description

Introduced with the Capital Works (Build to Rent Misuse Tax) Bill 2024, the bill amends the: Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 , Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and Taxation Administration Act 1953 to provide incentives for investors to support the construction of new build to rent developments by increasing the capital works deduction rate to 4 per cent per year and reducing the final withholding tax rate on eligible fund payments from eligible managed investment trust investments to 15 per cent; National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to extend the application of the Credit Code to buy now, pay later contracts and establish low cost credit contracts as a new category of regulated credit; Medicare Levy Act 1986 to exempt eligible lump sum payments in arrears from the Medicare Levy; Taxation Administration Act 1953 to impose a new reporting obligation on certain large multinational enterprises; Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to update the list of deductible gift recipients; Federal Financial Relations Act 2009 to update funding arrangements to support payments from the Commonwealth to the States in relation to skills and workforce development; and Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to extend the $20,000 instant asset write-off by 12 months until 30 June 2025.

Committee Referrals

Senate Economics Legislation Committee; Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills

Full bill PDF →APH page →

Audit History

Introduced

5 June 2024

Last updated on APH

10 Apr 2026

Outcome date

10 Dec 2024

Last checked by Crossbench

today

Full text indexed

today

🗳️

No formal division recorded

This bill passed by voice vote — parliament agreed without calling a formal count. A division is only recorded when a member explicitly requests one.

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